B ROAD DRAINAGE WORK MOVES AHEAD SEE STORY, PAGE 4
WELLINGTON TENNIS FUN DAY FOR KIDS SEE PHOTOS, PAGE 11
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TOWN-CRIER WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE • THE ACREAGE
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Groves, ITID Put In A Good Showing During Tallahassee Visit
Volume 41, Number 3 January 17 - January 23, 2020
Serving Palms West Since 1980
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB DINNER DANCE
Representatives from the Town of Loxahatchee Groves and the Indian Trail Improvement District had full agendas of meetings with state officials during Palm Beach County Days in Tallahassee on Tuesday, Jan. 13 and Wednesday, Jan. 14, hoping to bring back money that will help both local governments with transportation and drainage projects. Page 3
Wellington Seniors Club Members Visit Winter Equestrian Festival
The Palm Beach International Equestrian Center hosted the Wellington Seniors Club for a luncheon on Wednesday, Jan. 8. The seniors enjoyed a horse show on the opening day of the 2020 Winter Equestrian Festival. It was the first of several club trips to the horse show this season. Page 5
CAFCI Installs New Officers For 2020
Caribbean-Americans for Community Involvement (CAFCI) held its annual Installation of Officers on Saturday, Jan. 11 at the Royal Palm Beach Recreation Center. Judge Maxine Cheesman administered the oath to the 2020 board members. CAFCI members also made plans for upcoming events. Page 12
Rivals Collide As Wolverines Edge Broncos 58-51 In OT
The Wellington High School boys basketball team hosted crosstown rival and district foe Palm Beach Central High School on Friday, Jan. 10 and narrowly defeated the Broncos in overtime 58-51 behind a game-high performance by Jagger Ruiz with 30 points. Page 17 DEPARTMENT INDEX NEWS...............................3 - 15 NEWS BRIEFS......................... 6 SPORTS..........................17 - 18 BUSINESS............................. 19 PEOPLE................................. 20 SCHOOLS.............................. 21 COLUMNS............................. 22 CALENDAR............................ 24 CLASSIFIEDS................ 25 - 26 Visit Us On The Web At WWW.GOTOWNCRIER.COM
The Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club returned to the Wycliffe Golf & Country Club for its 32nd annual Wellington Dinner Dance on Friday, Jan. 10. The theme for the evening was “Roaring 20s” and included a cocktail reception before dinner, a performance by club teens, silent and live auctions, and music by the band HyRyZe. Shown above are Georgina Bloomberg and Hillary Dobbs with girls from the Boys & Girls Club. MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 15 PHOTO BY CALLIE SHARKEY/TOWN-CRIER
PBCFR Celebrates Grand Opening Of New Station 22
By Ron Bukley Town-Crier Staff Report Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue celebrated the opening of its new Station 22 on Thursday, Jan. 9. Located at 16650 Town Center Parkway South in Westlake, the new building replaced a nearby facility that has operated out of the Grove Market Shopping Center since 2002. Hundreds of area dignitaries, fire officials and interested residents who have advocated over the years for the new station attended the celebration at a property donated by Westlake and its developer Minto. The donation was part of the area’s development agreement with Palm Beach County. “Since this station was first established in this area in 2002, we have doubled the number of emergency 911 calls for fire and medical calls out in this area,” Fire Safety Specialist Tara Cardoso said. “We have also doubled the number of staff, and this station was built to last. This is Palm Beach County’s first Category 5 hurricane station.” Palm Beach County Fire Chief Reginald Duren said he was sur-
The color guard presents the flags during the dedication ceremony for Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue’s Station 22.
PHOTO BY RON BUKLEY/TOWN-CRIER
prised by the turnout at the grand opening. “I recognize now the key is to wait 17 years and you get a major crowd to any event that you have,” Duren said. “I want to say, ‘thank you’ again to County Administrator Verdenia Baker and her staff, and Deputy County Administrator Jon Van Arnam for making this station possible as well.” He also welcomed former Palm
Beach County Administrator Bob Weisman and Facilities Development & Operations Director Audrey Wolf, PBCFR Advisory Board members Tom Wenham, Jay Littman, Titus Rich and Lance Berkowitz, as well as members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Division of Forestry. Duren thanked Kast ConstrucSee STATION 22, page 7
Wellington Finalizes Slimmed Down Land Development Rules
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report A multi-year effort to make Wellington’s Land Development Regulations more user friendly resulted in the original LDRs of some 1,200 pages being repealed and replaced in its entirety by a svelte, new 285-page document at a meeting of the Wellington Village Council on Monday, Jan. 13. The public hearing fielded one comment that the new regulations bypassed Wellington’s Equestrian Preserve Committee. Village Manager Paul Schofield explained that there are no changes to Wellington’s equestrian policies in the new document. “The equestrian committee was never the final decision-maker,” he said. “They were, as they have always been, advisors. There are no land use changes.” Councilman John McGovern praised the new and improved document. “Reduced by more than 900 pages with no change in substance. It is a hallmark project and achievement,” he said, thanking village staff for their work. Wellington’s Planning, Zoning & Building Director Bob Basehart said that unlike its predecessor, the new LDRs have no inconsistencies with the comprehensive plan and creates no new non-conformities and no new entitlements. Despite pointing out a typo on the random page she turned to, Mayor Anne Gerwig was impressed. “It is very good. Take that back to your staff,” she told Basehart. Schofield said that typographical errors are inevitable and can and will be fixed as found. Two other public hearings produced no public to hear, and the measures also passed unanimously with little or no comments or disagreements. One was related to cell phone service rights-of-way. “There are only minor changes to make us compliant with the state,” Village Attorney Laurie
Cohen said before the measure was approved. The second was the final reading of a legally required housekeeping measure updating the five-year capital improvement element schedule and the relevant portions of the School District of Palm Beach County capital improvement schedule. In other business: • During time for public comment, 23-year resident and 26-year teacher at Wellington High School Scott Zucker recommended that the Peaceful Waters Sanctuary boardwalk replacement be done in stages so as not to necessitate closing the entire area during its renovation. The sanctuary, located at the back end of Wellington’s Village Park, is a favorite for birding enthusiasts, both locally and throughout the region. Zucker cited that each local visitor spends about $40 on a day’s outing that includes a visit to the park, while out-of-town visitors spend upward of $110 for the excursion. He estimated some 500 visitors per week and came up with a $1 million per year economic impact on Wellington due to visitation of the soon to be temporarily closed sanctuary. Schofield questioned the number of visitors being anywhere near that high but explained that the filtration area is for the benefit of Wellington’s nearby wastewater treatment facility and that the boardwalk is a recreational amenity that is an addendum to the primary use of the area. He said that to do the rehabilitation in other than a single phase would add more than $400,000 to the project and would still be unsafe for visitors to be in a construction area during the work. “It is a risk management issue,” said Schofield, assuring the council that the work would be done quickly and be minimally invasive. “In a way, we are victims of our own success,” McGovern said, See COUNCIL, page 4
BUDDY BENCH AT BENOIST FARMS
Board Supports Beige Repaint For Wellington Marketplace
By M. Dennis Taylor Town-Crier Staff Report Wellington’s Architectural Review Board met Wednesday, Jan. 15 for a single agenda item tabled from the board’s December meeting — a decision on a new color scheme for the Wellington Marketplace shopping plaza. As it turned out, the new paint color and awnings of the shopping center, located at the corner of Wellington Trace and Greenview Shores Blvd., will be similar to the plaza’s current look. After a significant discussion, the board determined that the beige buildings with beige trim and turquoise awnings would be newly repainted a different beige,
keeping the turquoise awnings. Paul Frahm was again representing the property owner but had also brought the owner along to the meeting in hopes of getting an answer on the color scheme. It was a case of be careful what you ask for. As a result of a citation, work has been done on the buildings, and the management of the center asked to repaint the buildings gray, but also suggested beige in case change was not in the offing. Village staff didn’t think that gray and turquoise looked nice together, so there were two options recommended by staff at the December meeting: a two-tone gray, or beige and black. Either
way it was suggested that the faded turquoise awnings should be replaced within the year with neutral or black ones. The applicant did not bring renderings of the new look to the December meeting, and a decision could not be reached. So, the applicant and all future applicants were instructed to bring in renderings of what the options would look like, which the applicant did at this week’s meeting. In the ensuing weeks, since the last meeting, the applicant determined that the gray would necessitate more costs in pressure washing and now had a preference not to paint the building gray, even See PAINT, page 4
The Rotary Club of Wellington donated a “Buddy Bench” to Benoist Farms Elementary School on Tuesday, Jan. 14. A grand unveiling took place in association with Mental Health America of Palm Beach County, who was represented by Loverly Sheridan, author of “Be a Buddy, Not a Bully.” Shown above are the school’s new “Buddy Ambassadors” Jonathan Castellanos, Sarai Burrows, Isabella Keisel, Jason Jean-Baptiste, Jamal McFarland and Carissa Charleus. STORY & MORE PHOTOS, PAGE 3 PHOTO BY DENIS EIRIKIS/TOWN-CRIER
Boynton Family Donates Seating For Oxbridge Theater
By Callie Sharkey Town-Crier Staff Report The Oxbridge Academy of the Palm Beaches celebrated the dedication of brand-new stadium seating for its theater with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 14. The private school was able to upgrade the formerly ground-level layout with tiered seating that allow for all guests to clearly see the stage, thanks to the generosity of Wellington business leaders Ben and Joanna Boynton. “We’ve been saying since the beginning of the project that this way, everyone gets the best seat in the house,” Head of School Dr. Ralph Maurer said. “What was exceptional about the collaboration
was how [the Boyntons] sat down not just with people who work in fundraising, but also our facilities people. This is such an amazing example of problem solving between parents, the community and the school.” From inception to opening, the project took about seven months. School staff and the Boynton family did extensive research, including visiting other sites around the county, to find the best way to improve sight lines for all guests seated in the theater. The actual construction took place in a mere two days. “We are very excited to do this. We wanted to help the school in a way it would impact a lot of people,” Ben Boynton said. “Almost
every student in this school will probably pass through this theater. Almost every parent will sit in this theater at one point in time. This is long term, and we encourage other people who really want to move the school forward.” Both Boynton children, William and Catherine, have participated heavily in the theater program at Oxbridge. Catherine was set to perform that very evening. “Now, we can sit anywhere, and we don’t have to be here an hour early for every show,” he said. The theater is more than just a place for performances though. In addition to the rock, jazz and musical theater, the school also brings in professional speakers See OXBRIDGE, page 13
Theater arts instructor Kimberly Patterson; Head of School Dr. Ralph Maurer; Ben, Catherine and Joanna Boynton; Board Chair David Rosow; and Performing Arts Chair Ernie Mills take part in the ribbon cutting for the new seating. PHOTO BY CALLIE SHARKEY/TOWN-CRIER